Playroom Design P
| KEVIN O’CONNOR, PHD, ABPP, RPT-S
lay therapists are a resourceful group of professionals who are able to do excellent work in the most unlikely of spaces using whatever materials they may have on hand. dividers in classrooms, at a child’s hospital bedside, and even in spare closets. While this resourcefulness is quite
remarkable, it begs the question, “What makes for an ideal playroom?” This question is not easily answered because what is considered ideal varies with the therapist’s theoretical orientation, the developmental and therapeutic needs of the child, and the cultural context in which the play therapy is being provided. In this article, we will consider the construction and layout of the playroom space, the inclusion of any large, durable equipment, such as tables and chairs, and how the toys are displayed or stored.
Before beginning to design the ideal playroom, all play therapists would prioritize the safety of the space. For example, they would ensure any windows or mirrors in the playroom are made of either safety glass or plastic. Next, play therapists need to conceptualize the purpose of the space from their theoretical perspective. Most child-centered play therapists also would want the space to convey an inviting and permissive atmosphere. Psychoanalytically-oriented play therapists think of the space as a neutral container in which the child can disclose intrapsychic material through interaction with the toys and materials (O’Connor, Lee, & Schaefer, 1983). Most Theraplay® (Booth & Jernberg, 2010) and ecosystemic (O’Connor, 2000, 2016) play therapists also tend to think of the playroom as a neutral container; however, they conceptualize its primary purpose as promoting the interaction between child and therapist,
rather than interaction
between child and toys. While similar, these varying purposes will manifest somewhat differently in ideal playrooms.
consideration would be the size of the space. Smaller spaces are most easily used by play therapists who are working from a traditional psychoanalytic or cognitive framework with children who have primarily internalizing symptoms who, therefore, act out very little. These children are comfortable playing quietly and engaging in primarily verbal interactions with the therapist. Conversely, Theraplay® dysregulated child in a small space where the child’s ability to engage
in active, interactive play was limited. Ideally, any playroom should be big enough to allow children to engage in some gross motor activity. Rolling or tossing a ball back and forth with the play therapist, jumping, dancing, or tossing bean bags at a target require more space and contribute to both children’s gross motor development and a sense of mastery over their physical and emotional selves. Additionally, “teachers most commonly
refer students for assistance in the
schools because of student behavioral problems” (Abidin & Robinson, 2002, as cited in Ray, Schottelkorb, & Tsai, 2007, p. 95), because the futures of children with “highly disruptive behavior evident in early elementary school years are bleak” (Cochran & Cochran, 2015, p. 60). For this reason, the playroom should not be so small or cluttered that it unnecessarily constrains the child or inadvertently creates behavioral demands similar to those in the classroom. A larger space allows these children to move freely without harming themselves, the space, or its contents. At the same time, the playroom should not be so large that children can isolate themselves from the therapist, potentially interfering with the development of a positive therapeutic relationship. In other words, the playroom should not be too small or too large but rather, to quote Goldilocks, “just right.” “The minimum playroom size is about 10 X 10 feet and no larger than 16 X 16 feet. If the room is sometimes to be used for seeing groups of children, then it must certainly be larger, a room about 15 X 25 feet is excellent for group work” (O’Connor, 2000, p. 235).
No matter the size of the playroom, the play therapist can use the fact most children tend to be sensitive to environmental cues and can learn to adapt their behavior accordingly. A great example of this is Leland’s (1983) use of two adjoining playrooms to help developmentally delayed children learn to engage in messy play, such as painting in the messy room, and clean play, such as pretending or board games in the clean room. In a single playroom, an area with a tiled or linoleum couple of beanbag chairs might be designated for reading, talking, or just relaxing. In more the more elaborate playrooms favored by many child-centered play therapists, various stations could be arranged similar to those one sees in many preschool and elementary school for painting, with an easel or wall mounted pad of paper; for house play, with a miniature sink, stove and refrigerator; or a corner with a
www.a4pt.org | March 2018 | PLAYTHERAPY | 5
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